(Matthew 13:15) "For this people's heart is
waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, andtheir eyes they have
closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their
ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I
should heal them."

Jesus addressed the people on several different
occasions but had little effect on them. He attributed this rejection to an
attitude that had been described by the prophet Isaiah a long while ago.
(Isaiah 6:10) It was the attitude of the Jews that Paul addressed in Rome. The
Bible says that some believed and some didn't. Paul said that they were of the
same disposition of those of whom the prophet and Jesus had spoken. Paul said,
"Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto
the Gentiles, and that they will hear it" (Acts 28:18).

This disposition is still prevalent in people
today, even among many who call themselves Christians. Sometimes it is found in
we who claim to "speak where the Bible speaks and to be silent where the
Bible is silent."

The Bible says, "He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark
16:16). But many people harden their hearts and will not hear of it meaning
what it says.. We read a plain statement addressed to Christians in 1
Corinthians 10:12: "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed
lest he fall." But some close their eyes and loudly proclaim that "a
child of God can never fall." We come in contact with Christians who stop
their ears so as to not hear the exhortation of Hebrews 10:25: "Not
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is
..." And some who claim to be students and scholars of the Bible find it
hard to understand the simple statement found in Mark 13: 31-32: "Heaven
and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. 32 But of that day
and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither
the Son, but the Father." So some fix dates for his coming and others just
say, "Soon."

And so the attitude still prevails just as it was
in the days of Isaiah, of Jesus and of Paul.